Ellen's Very Southern Voice on Nostr: #WritersCoffeeClub Do you reuse characters? I wrote a novel based on my first ...

#WritersCoffeeClub Do you reuse characters?

I wrote a novel based on my first published short story, Mother Mary Commutes to Memphis. Five or so chapters from the novel—The Bone Trench—were published, not the novel. Recurring characters were Mary, Jesus, and Little C, Mary's cherubim protector. A reader put Bs in the margins. I'm like, what are the Bs? "That's where it was blasphemous," she said. Another reader: "Ellen, you have managed to offend everyone but terrorists, and maybe them too."